I'll happily put my neck on the line here, but if we were to wait until the end of the season then I would theoretically still take Benitez.
That's if he doesn't take Newcastle on in the long term of course, which I sincerely doubt he will as the ship he's inherited looks certain to sink.
And yes his time over in the shed and some of his comments have left a pretty sour taste, and it would be something hard to originally except.
But he's a proven manager as shown by his trophy haul and with experience of the Premier League and football at the highest levels.
From all accounts he's also highly regarded by most players he's managed and has been able to attract and retain numerous high-profile talents.
With the squad we've already got and extra money at his disposal to bring in talent, then I think he'd be able to push us in the right direction.
Would he come? Probably not as he's pretty loyal to Liverpool. Would I also want others like José before him? Yes of course I would.
I accept that most fans would be horrified by such an idea which is fair enough, but without the Blue-tinted glasses I think he'd be a good option.
And anyway... the likes of Watson, Harper, Hickson, Sheedy, Don Hutchinson and Ablett have all switched sides so I'm sure we could handle it.